


Savior of the Waking World / Where Four Will Gather

by PaulPower



Series: Game Breakers [2]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-16
Updated: 2010-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-11 03:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/107636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaulPower/pseuds/PaulPower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John leads the evacuation of his dying planet, the four kids meet up for the first time, and a very special pair of prototypings for Jade's sprite...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Savior of the Waking World / Where Four Will Gather

John hovered on his rocketpack over the Land of Wind and Shade, surveying the damage and cursing Jack Noir bitterly.  He'd really gone to town on the Medium lately.  The Land of Heat and Clockwork was already smashed to bits, with Dave himself only just making it to Jade's world in time.  Now his own planet was in a bad way, too.  Knocked out of its orbit, with lava seeping from the ground everywhere, it was not going to be inhabitable for much longer.

But if he couldn't save the world, he could still save some of its people.  Refugee salamanders were pouring into the second gate above his house.  Experiments had confirmed that the even-numbered gates were two-way, and that it headed to Jade's world.  It had taken a lot to convince the others to go through with it, a lot of crazy coordination, and a _lot_ of stair building up the pillar his house had stood on, but they'd got an exit strategy together.  He'd even spent a bunch of excess grist repeatedly cloning his dad's umbrella, just in case some of the salamanders fell off the winding staircase.  It worked in Lemmings, right?  And this sure felt a lot like Lemmings, guiding creatures up a bunch of stairs to safe exits.  So maybe Lemmings physics would apply.

Maybe it was bit of a waste of limited time and resources.  Maybe it would be kinda futile if Jack's rampage was only going to continue on Jade's world.  And yes, he thought guiltily as Rose's face swam across his mind, it certainly wasn't much of a contribution to their plan to break the game.  But he felt he had to do _something_ for the salamanders.  None of this was their fault.  They'd just been created to populate a nice, normal game of SBurb and get on with their salamandery lives.  They didn't drop an armed and dangerous bunny into the hands of the enemy.  He was their Heir, the guy they were all supposed to be looking up to.  They'd carried him around on their shoulders when he'd heroically watched something else put a fire out.  Okay, so they weren't the sharpest cards in the sylladex, but he could hardly talk.  He wouldn't be able to look Casey in the eye if he didn't try.

Besides, he couldn't just run away from this planet without trying to help others escape too.  Running away on your own was cowardice: running away with others was a tactical withdrawl.  Didn't Charles Barkley say something like that?

A voice floated over from the group of salamanders just about to enter Gate 2, interrupting his thoughts. "My baby!  Where's my baby?".  John zoomed down to where he'd heard the voice, and saw a salamander that he vaguely recognised from somewhere.  He wasn't quite sure how he recognised her.  She wasn't wearing a crumpled top hat or a bedsheet, but somehow she seemed familiar.  Clearing his throat, he summed up all of his powers of movie cliché. "What seems to be the trouble, ma'am?"

"M... my baby.  I haven't seen her since she went away with you.  Where is she?"  
"... ah. Right." John definitely knew who this salamander was now.  
"Well? Is she safe?"  
"Um... one moment please."

EB: rose, is casey there?  
TT: Casey?  
EB: uh... viceroy von salamancer?  
TT: Oh.  Yes, yes he is.  
EB: well when you head for jade's world can you really, really make sure you remember to bring her?  
TT: Why?  
EB: i've got a loving wife here who needs reuniting with her daughter...

John sent the salamander through the gate with a reassurance that she would see Casey soon.  A beep from his PDA goggles told him that Rose had got back to him.

TT: Ok, I'm leaving for Jade's world now. I should be there in a few minutes.  
TT: I won't bother using the gates, I think I should be able to propel myself there using the Thorns.  
TT: And yes, I've got the viceroy.  
TT: And no, I haven't performed any diabolical experiments on him like trapping him in a punch card and making clones of him or anything.  
TT: Well, unless you count the plushie.  But he rather likes that.  
EB: thanks rose!  
EB: and sorry for holding us all up like this.  
TT: That's ok. I know it means a lot to you.

John's embarrassed grin was cut short by a sudden realisation - Jack Noir was coming.  In the distance, he could see the black speck approaching, glowing ominously with his fourth - and deadliest - prototyping.  He was right next to the second gate.  He could hop through it now.  But he wasn't quite done here yet.  He spurred the rocketpack down towards his room, the fireflies blurring into streaks as he pushed the machine to its limits.

Executing the now-familiar crash landing, John stood up.  He had... what, a couple of minutes?... to collect a few personal mementos and maybe some stuff that would come in handy.  This would probably be the last time he'd see his house, after all.  The Cosbytop and Crosbytop (may as well have a backup), books (Sassacre, Harry Anderson and a bunch of programming books), games, movie posters, and - after only a moment's hesitation - the little card with the aromas of fatherly aftershaves and colognes.

He took one last look at his room.  Maybe, somehow, it would escape Noir's assault.  But he'd done all he could for now.  Time to get going.  He readjusted the jetpack and headed out the window, gunning for the second gate above his house, which the salamanders had confirmed led to Jade's second gate on her planet.  But the trip to his room had allowed Noir to gain ground, and it was a race against time.  By the time he'd passed the first gate, they were only metres apart.  Nanna was still hanging around the place, he noticed.  Would she survive?  Had Davesprite survived?  He wondered how many more rungs he and Dave would have to climb before they'd be able to follow them.

Urging one last ounce of power from the rocketpack, John charged through the second gate, narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of Noir's tentacles.  He emerged onto Jade's planet.  Behind him, a loud explosion told him that Rose had arrived on the planet just in the nick of time, blowing the gate up behind him so that the Sovereign Slayer couldn't follow.  She'd bought them some time.  Jade and Dave were waiting for them nearby.

*    *    *

He'd barely landed when Jade leapt forward with a cry of "JOHN!!!" and gave him a hug so fierce it nearly knocked him over.  Glasses askew, they grinned at each other.  "Er, yeah, good to see you too, sis," John said sheepishly as the separated and he readjusted his glasses.

"Don't worry about it man, she practically floored me when I popped out of the Gate 2 over her house," said Dave. "Being brought up by a dog's driven her feral or something."  
"Well, if you two will do these last-minute escapes from your dying planets, you've got to expect overemotional reactions like this," said Rose, alighting gracefully, blowing away the smoke from the tips of her Thorns.  She looked up at John. "Still... nice work, John.  Staying behind to help as many salamanders as possible escape before you did... that was incredibly brave."  
"And really dumb," added Dave, looking over at the group of salamanders that were milling around aimlessly, trying to make friends with the local fauna.  
"And really dumb.  But mostly incredibly brave."  
"Sorry, Rose," said John, nervously, "I feel like a bit of a jerk, saying I want to help you break the game and then delaying us all with these salamanders... having you build all those stairs up to my house..."  
"Oh, come here, you..."

And then she was hugging him too.  It wasn't anywhere near as energetic as Jade's hug, but in a funny sort of way it seemed more heartfelt.  When they separated, though, she gave him a slap.

"However, _that's_ for getting my kitten lost in a stable time loop.  With my mother of all people." But she didn't sound too angry about it.  
"Haha, geez, I said I was sorry about that..."  
"Oh well, I should have known you'd do something daft when you took it.  It was nice while it lasted, and I've still got Jaspersprite.  Once we level up a bit more, that is.  Incidentally, here's the viceroy." The young salamander dropped out of a leaf card and went to find her mother.  
"Jesus man, did you do something special to curry favour with the ladies?" asked Dave.  But now he was approaching cautiously too. "Okay, how do we do this..."  
"Let's _do_ this thing," said John, grinning.  
"Let's make this shit work," added Dave, allowing himself a smile.

Finally the bro hug bunp made contact. "We're doing it man," said John. "We're _making this happen_."

The four of them collapsed with laughter, perhaps more out of relief than anything.

"All you need are the filthy wifebeaters," said Rose, still smiling.

*    *    *

A loud thunderclap broke the good mood, reminding them that they couldn't enjoy themselves like this for long. Over in the distance, towards Jade's house, a glowing green shape hovered in the air, crackling with untold energy.

"Shit, you two, why did you have to prototype with that hellbeast?" said Dave, suddenly annoyed. "You _knew_ Noir would only get stronger with every prototyping.  Hell, _you_ told me that."  
"Dave we didn't get a choice!" said Jade, sounding hurt. "As soon as the cruxtruder opened, Bec leapt into the kernelsprite before we could react!  There was no way we could stop him."  
"Yeah, and then he went off and used his combined Becsprite powers to blow up Jade's meteor," John added. "Just as well, really.  There were like forty seconds left on the cruxtruder's countdown timer when we opened it.  I think we might _just_ have got the whole medium entry thing done in time without him, but... Bec saved us a lot of trouble."  
"And he's given us a whole lot more.  Every fourth underling's now a fucking nigh-invulnerable radioactive powerhouse."  
"To be fair," said Rose, "a concentrated full-power blast from the Thorns will one-shot a Bec imp.  I experimented."  
"Yeah, but I'm not exactly flying off the handle with joy at the prospect of you firing those things into melee.  I _told_ Jade she should have take that dog out behind the woodshed and - aw, c'mon Jade, please don't cry..."  
"Dave Strider, master of tact," said Rose, rolling her eyes at John as Dave tried to comfort Jade. "Have you done a second prototyping yet?  Perhaps with the right choice we could harness Becsprite more effectively, as a weapon against Monsieur Noirlecrow."  
"Not yet, no," replied John. "We've tried a couple of times, but Bec just keeps dodging.  He didn't even want to be prototyped with Jade's grandpa.  Either he doesn't want to have a second-tier prototyping at all, or there's something specific he wants to be prototyped _with_... oh wait, I'm an idiot."  
"Yeah, man, but we love you anyway," quipped Dave.  
"Jade, when was the last time you went in your grandpa's lab?"

Jade blinked back the tears. "I don't think I've been in there since... since he died.  Why?"  
"Well, when I was dreaming on Skaia, I saw inside it.  And you'll never guess what was in there!"

Silence fell. "You're right, I don't think I will," said Jade eventually. "What was it?"  
"Your dreamself!  He taxidermied it!"  
"He... what?  But how?  He died like four years ago... I only just..."  
"But he's still alive inside the medium!  At least, I think he is... maybe he's gone back in time to die by now?  Urrgh, time travel really screws you up."  
"I'm going to pretend I understood that," said Rose.  
"So you want to try prototyping Bec with my dreamself?" asked Jade.  
"More self-prototyping?" Dave asked "Why does everyone always have to follow my lead?"  
"What exactly would happen if we tried it?" Rose asked.  
"I don't know..." said John. "It's kind of a grey area, really.  Would you be okay with it, Jade?"

Jade smiled nervously. "Yeah, I think so.  It might be why things had to happen the way they did, after all.  And maybe resurrecting my dreamself... well, it just feels like it'd be a good thing, somehow."  
"Okay.  There's a return node over there," Dave said, pointing. "Let's get going, before Kefka finds another way in."

*    *    *

"Did he _really_ have to stuff you in that pose?" Dave snorted.  
"I'm sorry, Jade, even I think that's funny," John agreed.  
"Hey Jade, how big was the moon that hit you?"  
"It was thiiiiiis big!" John finished, spreading his arms wide.  
"When you two are quite finished," Rose admonished.  
"No, it's okay, Rose," said Jade quietly. "It's good that we can still make jokes about it, really..."

John looked down at his feet, embarassed. "Sorry, Jade.  It's just... well, you know."  
"Yeah, sorry Jade," said Dave, shuffling uncomfortably.  
"No, really guys, it's okay.  We'll never get through this if we don't keep our spirits up."  
"Okay then," said Rose. "Anyone got a juicy radioactive T-Bone steak?"

But even the mention of steak brought Becsprite flying over. "Good dog," said Jade, patting him.  
"Best friend," Rose added, absent-mindedly giving the dog a stroke.

With careful use of the ghost gauntlets, John lowered Dream Jade's body into the sprite.  Bec didn't try to dodge this time.  There was a flash of light, and the result was...

... well.  Bec's ears and nose combined with Jade's glasses, teeth and hair was an... unusual sight.  Although the oddest part was the fact that the sprite appeared to be sleeping as it floated in midair.

"Well, you did always want to be a furry," Dave remarked.  
"Why am I sleeping?" asked Jade.  
"I thought you'd be able to work that out, given this is your area of expertise." said Rose. "She's a dreamself.  She's asleep when you're awake, and vice versa."  
"So if Jade goes to sleep..." said John.  
"But I haven't felt like sleeping since my dreamself died!" said Jade.  
"And that was, what, two hours ago?  Practically a record," said Dave.  
"Could you try going to sleep?" asked Rose. "Not to be rude or anything, but you've had enough practice."  
"Okay..." said Jade, and she promptly slumped into a peaceful doze.

The other three looked at her. "Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax," said Dave, but a strange, ethereal voice from behind them stopped him in his tracks.  
_  
"Wowww... this is sooooo cooooooool..."_

*    *    *

"This is weirding me out," said Dave. "Having a doppelgänger fuse with a brainless feathery asshole was bad enough, but..."  
"Speaking of which," said Rose, "is this a doppelgänger?  Or is this actually Jade, the Jade having a nice nap over there?"  
"Hmm," said John, "I don't know.  Jade?"  
_"Yeah?"_  
"What was the first thing you asked me when I contacted you to get you into the medium?"

Jadesprite's reply was instant. _"I asked you if your dreamself was okay..."_  
"That's her," said John.  
_"But seriously you guys this is amazing!  Woof.  Oops, hehe..."_  
"Better than dreaming?" asked Rose.

Jadesprite considered this for a second. _"I don't know.  It's... different.  I mean there's no Skaia visions, no Prospit to explore, no Prospitians to make friends with... but it's weird.  I feel like I know everything and could do anything!"_  
"Well that's handy," said Dave. "Is there anything in particular we should know?"

Jadesprite frowned. _"Well... that's the trouble.  I don't know where to start.  Maybe you could ask me some questions?"_  
"Why are we so fucking awesome?" Dave muttered to himself.  
"Maybe we should leave this for later," said Rose. "Do you want to try waking up again first?  Just... just to make sure you can?"

Jadesprite swallowed. _"Okay."_ She shut her eyes, and everyone held their breath for a second.  Jade woke up.  The room relaxed.

"Aww... I've forgotten it all," Jade said.  
"All of it?" asked John.  
"Well... not quite.  There was one thing."  
"What?" asked Rose keenly.  
"In the Veil.  There's a big meteor - the biggest.  And the labs there store the game's computer code!"  
"So we can hack the game?" Dave asked.  
"Yeah!  Um... John, I don't suppose you brought your programming books with you?"

**Author's Note:**

> The first section is based off another Volume 5 song, "Savior of the Waking World", easily my favourite version of Doctor. Fits so well with John doing something heroic and selfless and, yes, just a bit clueless. Originally it was a separate piece, but I've lumped it in with Where Four Will Gather and edited it to make the two flow better.
> 
> Basically the same series as Light (I should probably put them in the same series then :p). The whole series is basically a product of the Troll Arc and me going "dammit I miss the Kids". The Trolls are cool, don't get me wrong, and I can see why they're an important part of the story, but... I miss the Kids. This is my way of relieving the absence. Of course, once we do get back to the Kids it'll almost certainly all be proven wrong, but hey I guess that's kind of the point of fanfic.
> 
> The idea of Dreamjadesprite has intrigued me ever since we found out that Dream Jade was stuffed and mounted and living in her grandfather's lab. Let's face it, it's something that'd be tough to write well (no comment on whether I think I've written it well), without making the death kind of trivial. But perhaps Dream Jade dying was part of a grander plan. At the very least, I can definitely see the Kids trying it if they get the opportunity.


End file.
